PrintOn the morning of January 1st, at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Mass marking the Virgin Mary's motherhood of Jesus Christ, which also marks the 42nd World Day of Peace, the theme of which is "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace" for 2009.
Commenting on the World Day of Peace during his homily, the Pope explained that there exists, on one hand, "the poverty chosen and proposed by Jesus and, on the other hand, the poverty that must be fought to make the world more just and united". "The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem", he said, "shows us that God chose poverty for Himself in His coming among us. ...His love for us prompted Jesus not only to make Himself human but even to make Himself poor".
Nevertheless, he added, there exists "a poverty that prevents persons and families from living their dignity; a poverty that offends justice and equality and that, as such, threatens peaceful living together". In his message this year the Pope recalled that "in the face of diffuse plagues such as pandemic illnesses, the poverty of children, food crises" he had returned to denouncing "the unacceptable arms race". Referring to the phenomenon of globalization, said that it is necessary that nations "make the effort to maintain a high level of solidarity".
Benedict XVI asked if "we are prepared to read the current economic crisis in its complexity as a challenge for the future and not just as an emergency to which to give short term answers. Are we ready to make a profound change in the dominant model of development together, to correct it concretely and for the long term? Even more than the immediate financial difficulties, the state of the planet's ecological health and, above all, the cultural and moral crisis whose symptoms have been evident all over the world demand it."
"In order to fight the iniquitous poverty that oppresses many men and women and threatens the peace of all, it is necessary to rediscover sobriety and solidarity as evangelical and, at the same time, universal values. Misery cannot be effectively fought" if "the gap between those who waste the superfluous, and those who don't even have the necessary is not lessened", he affirmed.
The Holy Father entrusted to the Virgin Mary "the deep desire of living in peace that dwells in the hearts of the great majority of Israeli and Palestinian peoples who are once more placed in danger by the intense violence in the Gaza Strip in response to other violence".
"Violence, hate, and distrust are also forms of poverty - perhaps the worst - that must be fought". In this sense he also expressed "the justified hope that, with wisdom and the far-sighted contribution of all, it will not be impossible to listen to one another, to meet with one another, and to give concrete answers to the diffuse desire to live in peace, security, and dignity".
Following the Mass, the pope addressed pilgrims assembled at St. Peter's Square with whom he prayed. He wished them a happy New Year and appeared to quell anxiety over the current world economic crisis, saying that "with the Lord's grace - and only with it - can we have ever-new hope that the future will be better than the past".
With the message for the World Day of Peace, the theme of which is "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace" in 2009, he affirmed that his wish "is to dialogue anew with those responsible at national levels and in international organizations, offering the Catholic Church's contribution in promoting a new world order worthy of the human being".
"At the beginning of the new year", he said, "my first objective is precisely to invite all leaders and ordinary citizens not to be disheartened in the face of difficulties or failures, and to renew their commitments".
The Holy Father noted that "in the second part of 2008, an economic crisis of vast proportions arose. This crisis must be examined in detail as a serious symptom that requires intervention at its roots. It is not enough - as Jesus would say - to take a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Putting the poor in first place means decidedly moving toward the global solidarity that John Paul II pointed out as necessary, co-ordinating the potentialities of the market with those of civil society in constant respect of the law and tending always to the common good".
"Jesus Christ", the Pope concluded, "did not organize campaigns against poverty but proclaimed the Gospel for a complete ransom from moral and material misery to the poor. The Church, with its unceasing labors of evangelization and human promotion, does the same. We call on the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, to help all men and women walk together the Path of peace".
RSS